Homes located in Cape Coral, Lehigh Acres, section (for sale, real estate)

[sunshine57]

While visiting relatives in Cape Coral this past weekend we noticed a number of real estate agencies with signs stating that there were homes for sale in this Lehigh Acres section of Cape Coral for $30k. I am asking for help from residents in the area to tell me why this is? Why are these particular homes in Lehigh Acres going for so little? Glutton on the market? An area to stay away from or is it an area to look for a good investment?

[yoko]

Originally Posted by sunshine57

While visiting relatives in Cape Coral this past weekend we noticed a number of real estate agencies with signs stating that there were homes for sale in this Lehigh Acres section of Cape Coral for $30k. I am asking for help from residents in the area to tell me why this is? Why are these particular homes in Lehigh Acres going for so little? Glutton on the market? An area to stay away from or is it an area to look for a good investment?

An A+ for doing research
An F for asking realtors, desperate home owners and house flippers for their opinion.

Like Las Vegas, where construction companies are finally accepting the reality and selling based on the value of the land, the areas you are writing about might be in the same condition....or....those houses might have Chinese Dry Wall. If so, the value should be $0...or other problems nobody will tell you about because your money is their profit.

Be very careful about suspicious deals. The way the economy and prices are going, soon, you will be able to buy decent houses in best locations of the city at the price you determine not the seller !!

[kroeran]

Originally Posted by sunshine57

While visiting relatives in Cape Coral this past weekend we noticed a number of real estate agencies with signs stating that there were homes for sale in this Lehigh Acres section of Cape Coral for $30k. I am asking for help from residents in the area to tell me why this is? Why are these particular homes in Lehigh Acres going for so little? Glutton on the market? An area to stay away from or is it an area to look for a good investment?

theoretically speaking, when supply exceeds demand for something, the price may fall below cost, and even fall below zero.

to get technical on you, it can happen when you have an inelastic (vertical) supply curve, which is, a supply that does not respond to prices offered to purchase. A particularly excessive stock of housing was built in Lehigh, and there were too many houses when the music stopped in 2007.

As prices get lower, owners (often builders left holding the bag, mortgage holders and banksl, residents needing to move to find work) have little or no capacity to remove product from the market, at least in this situation. Perhaps some that were holding back have now capitulated and are starting to dump.

Then there is the demand side. The new money that is coming in to take up supply (what, close to half of construction cost?) I suspect is focusing on areas of interest to snowbirds and second homers, retirees. I think the concept of Lehigh was Acorn's idea of housing for the working poor who would more typically rent, and that model is dead or dying.

The worst case scenario is that Lehigh goes the way of Detroit, but Detroit does not have the sunshine, and beaches an hours drive.

I suspect the property taxes on a lower end Lehigh house must be not higher than $500 per year (just guessing). Many are built under the stronger post 2001 building codes, and forget about storm surge, so owning naked is plausible (own cash, go with no insurance, have strong locks and don't keep anything out and handy that is worth stealing). THOROUGHLY check for construction errors and bad chinese drywall.

I am wondering though if Lehigh would be great for someone with a small pension and who has a small pot of cash to plop on a house, but who can make the taxes and electric bill, the latter being the greater challenge. Being inland, it is hotter than the beach areas, so don't even think about going without AC unless you are from a very very hot country and have the metabolism for it. Also, you need a car. This is on the assumption you don't need a job nor a school.

An alternative is to do 6 months in Lehigh, then go to Detroit or Canada for the summer. There are towns in the north with closed mines where you can buy a house for 10k, and its nice in the summer, well, at least all 4 weeks of it.

[BigMunch]

Sounds pretty good, a house in Lehigh or the Cape for 30 grand for the Winter, and a house up North for 10 Grand for the Summer. Where do I sign up.??
I am working on the self Insurance idea, I personally cannot wait till I can dump my Homeowners policy . I would be able to buy another house up in Detroit every 10 years or so without those high Homeowner's rates here in SW Florida/

[kroeran]

I guess there may be liability to worry about. Might be cheaper to incorporate the house.

consider this
REALTOR.ca - Property Details 158578

use this to search nationwide for houses under 25k
http://www.realtor.ca/map.aspx?&vs=V...w:0;curStyle:r

this may be more to the point, still in good ole USA, ...nice summer resort town on the water
http://www.directhomes.com/Property/116318853/

or a little down river
Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by kroeran

I think the concept of Lehigh was Acorn's idea of housing for the working poor who would more typically rent, and that model is dead or dying.

***MOD CUT***

First of all, Lehigh Acres in not in Cape Coral. It is about 25 miles away, inland, and east of I-75.

It started as a tax shelter cattle ranch in the 60s. When that didn't work out, they cut up the property into lots and sold it. Eventually, the local government had to step in and assist a new developer because Lehigh was truly unplanned without area set aside for commerce or parks.

The biggest problem with Lehigh has been its location and aesthetics. During the housing boom a lot of low-income renters moved in because it was the last "affordable" place left in the area. Even then, it wasn't cheap, and lot of people that bought during that time are now upside down.

I once followed two lots from purchase in the 60s and after taxes they just didn't make anything. I wouldn't invest in Lehigh. Return is not there and if it ever comes it is probably going to be after I am dead.

[char727]

Lehigh Acres is 100 square miles and was part of the housing boom. A lot of the streets are in but you might find only one or two house built on them. Some of the houses listed for $30,000 are ones built in the early 60's.
There are several gated communities in Lehigh Acres which are nice communities, Varsity Lakes, Westminister,Town Lakes and these homes also have short sale homes just check Realtor.com.
Lehigh lacks any town gov't and you have to drive to Ft. Myers for shopping, fine dining and to see a movie. There are more than enough banks, gas stations, grocery stors,auto zones, and a Wal-Mart and more than enough of just about any demoninational church.
A lot of homes in both Cape Coral and Lehigh are on well and septic . Some areas of CapeCoral the wells can run dry during the dry season. Cape Coral is trying to replace these wth city services but it is costly.
Do lots of research first and check lee co sheriff' website for criminal activity areas.

Good Luck !

[BillyD0123]

Like Kroeran said +/-
LA is a spot where a small pension allows one to maintain & own a home outright.
Some of the deals in LA are homes that need various levels of repair or
still need completion. If you have a background in the building construction trades LA isn't as bad as it could be. Some of the places with missing plumbing, electric & hvac equipment have most potential buyers running. Hiring the trades can be pricey right, but if you can do 80% of the re-work yourself, there's some bargains to be had.
Someone said earlier that you shouldn't invest in Lehigh Acres. I guess I'd agree with that somewhat, as well. I wouldn't go into LA with the plan to start flipping houses. But, I wouldn't have an issue with spending $40k-$45k on a house for myself, that needs $15k-$20k of your own work.
Just for an example, I looked (via my realtors email) at an awesome home with a u shaped driveway, in LA that needed some repair, I'd say about 2-3 grand worth. The owners that were evicted, gave the next potential owners a big FU when they left. They cut all the electrical lines out of the breaker panel. The asking price was $60,000 and it was scooped up rather quickly. It had no drywall problems btw. That home in a better CC location would bring an easy $200,000.

[CCRESI]

Single Family Stats, 30k and under for Lehigh and Cape


In the past 3mths, 24 homes 30k and under sold in Lehigh. Most are older homes, average 1200sqft. Most need work.
2 Actively available.
7 Active cont. or AC Short sale.
18 pending.

So, yes, to answer your question....you can buy a home in Lehigh for 30k.

Now, let's look at Cape Coral:

Sold:1 sold in the past 90 days 30k and under.
Active:1
AC/ACSS:1
Pending: 2 pending

Not much going on in Cape Coral for 30k and under, Single Family.

[Kim in FL]

And just because you can buy a house for 30K in Lehigh, doesn't mean you should.